Don’t let Valentine’s Day get you down. If you are a Christian, you have the most incredible love letter in your copy of God’s Word. Any moments you choose today to spend with the Lord in His Word will pay off. I can’t tell you how He will bless you specifically, but I know He will.
Our emotions can get the better of us on days like today. God’s Word brings calm and peace, and the correct perspective. Valentine’s Day is of this world’s system. While it can be a delightful day to express our thoughts toward others, ultimately, as Christians, we live for a world yet to come, and we serve the One who loves us most. So let’s get started on reframing this day if you are struggling. Have you sometimes memorized Scripture or you’ve thought of memorizing but have yet to?
The Bible tells us that Scripture is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path(Psalm 119:105). Joshua 1:8 says to meditate on Scripture day and night. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. Its theme is the Word of God. The Bible advocates for a Christian to interact with Scripture as a regular part of life intentionally. So to encourage you to engage God’s Holy Word and find joy in making that choice, here are a few ideas. If you have other ideas, please leave them in the comments.
Have a morning quiet time every day – Whatever plan you choose, show up faithfully to meet God in His Word each morning.
Write Scripture – Peace will come to you while you are doing this. It doesn’t matter if you have pretty handwriting. The motion and very act of taking time to write Scripture sends a message to your brain to slow down and pay attention. And the reward is being aware of the Holy Spirit in your life, the meaning of the scripture, and a calming, pervasive peace.
Listen to a Bible app while you do anything – Driving, doing chores, on your lunch break, going to sleep. You will hear things you’ve never heard before, which might lead to further scripture engagement.
Memorize one verse – If you have a morning quiet time, then you are coming across some amazing passages. Choose one and write it in a notebook. Say it, write it, as often as you can.
Meditate on Scripture – What does this look like? Scripture writing is a meditation activity, but you can sit and read a passage. Read it aloud, read it silently, write a poem about what you’ve read, talk to God about what you read, make up a song from a passage, or just spend time in the Word.
Type out some scriptures – After this, press the read-aloud function in the review tab of your document menu- close your eyes and listen to everything you typed.
Read a Proverb every day of the month – Then write the proverb. Then choose some to memorize.
Do word studies – Find all the words in the Bible about a topic using a study Bible. This could lead to other activities interacting with Scripture.
Record your voice reading Scripture – Send it to your children, grandchildren, or a friend.
Pray Scripture – If you need some extra help in your prayer life, add scripture. This can be praise passages, repentance passages, asking God for transformation in some area of your life, reading passages that describe God, and thanking and praising Him.
Psalm 119:11 says, “I will hide God’s Word in my heart that I might not sin against thee.”
Memorization is an excellent discipline I do, have done, and would encourage for you. And memorization is what I believe the Psalmist is referencing. But there’s not a verse I know of that says one will have instant recall years later of any memorization. Hiding God’s Word means, by some supernatural means, the Holy Spirit is working the Word deep inside you. The Word is transforming you. David believes it will help him to sin less. His desire to please God is paramount.
I look at Scripture as medicine. It is healing, transforming, peace inducing, soaking me in truth, making my mind healthier, flushing old patterns of sin, digging up embedded lies, and softening my heart.
It is mental health, heart health, emotional health, and yes, I believe the one who is interacting with Scripture regularly has a fountain of youth that has nothing to do with wrinkles but with winsomeness, a sparkle in the eyes, and a general peaceful countenance.
Scripture is powerful, and this is backed up in Scripture in Hebrews 4:12, as Paul describes Scripture’s supernatural ability. But most of all, scripture is a treasure. It is God’s Word to us. He loves us, and we get to know the One who loves us through His Word.
Memorizing is an intentional way to get the scripture in your heart. But instant recall is not the goal. If you memorize a verse or passage and over time you can’t repeat it. Don’t be discouraged. Rejoice because the Bible tells us it is in you. It is hidden in your heart.
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I’ve heard people say over the years that whatever you memorize will be there when you need it. That can be true; it has been for me in some cases. But often, I wonder why more scripture doesn’t pop into my mind in challenging moments or times. But whether it springs up or not, this I do know, it is in me. It is transforming me to be more like Christ and is doing all the functions I listed above and more. That I do believe.
Memorization seems like a spiritually profitable practice to me and one I believe will bring eternal change in your heart. Why not use this Valentine’s Day to spend some time with the Author of the Ultimate Love Letter. Let me hear from you in the comments. And Happy Valentines Day!
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Scripture Writing was a newly discovered discipline that I added to my journey with Jesus years ago. Amazement filled my heart when I discovered people who combined their creativity with intentionality to produce countless options of monthly guides for writing the holy scripture.
Every day is a new day, a new beginning. You can start new practices and routines any day. Do you need a new spiritual habit that promises to yield instant results? Scripture writing is for you!
Here are 8 reasons why you will love scripture writing:
1. Interacting and writing God’s Word is supernatural and transformative.
2. Writing God’s Word gives your brain time to capture the meaning.
3. Writing God’s word is inspiring and encouraging.
4. Reproducing the scripture in your handwriting makes them personal, helping you own the verses.
5. Focus is put on God at the beginning of the day, and you sense His presence.
6. Peace comes as writing slows you down to think and let His Word absorb in your mind.
7. Order and focus are added to your quiet time as you write that day’s scripture.
8. Anticipating the next set of scriptures each morning keeps you coming back for more.
Before you begin, you will want to find a notebook and pens designated for this spiritual practice. Find a scripture writing for the month here. Print it. Find a favorite spot in your home where you can practice this uninterrupted.
Now you are ready to begin:
Set your alarm to add this to your schedule
Get your coffee or tea or breakfast
Go to your special place
Locate the passage in the Bible
Look at the passage for that day
Read it silently
Write it
Read it aloud to yourself
Diagram the passage (see blog above)
Ponder what God is saying and begin your prayer time
By the time you take these steps, insight comes.
Before you leave to get busy with your day, take time to write a few thoughts or a prayer to God. You may have questions, a prayer of thanks, confession, or a commitment to obedience. Photo by Unsplash
Other tips:
Capitalize the pronouns related to God or Jesus.
Place your name in the verses where there are personal pronouns. Look for action words or commands, promises.
Minimize phone usage. What’s the point of quiet time? This is your intentional time with God, the Lover of your Soul. Make your adjustments and make your time with Him a priority.
WARNING:
If you haven’t had a very intentional quiet time with Jesus, expect obstacles and opposition, but don’t allow those to discourage you. Hearing from the Lord through His Word, and praying to Him are the most important things a Christian does to grow and abide in Him. It is the essence of who we are as His people. It develops us into who we can be for His Kingdom’s use. Don’t give up.
BLESSING:
You will feel accomplished and have new freedom in your spirit as you put this practice in your life. Interacting with God’s Word is a good practice. Even if He convicts you of sin, just confess it. Ask Him to help you be more like Him. Jim Elliot said, “Why do you need a voice when you have a verse.”
“the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
If you have a Bible that’s falling apart, you’ll have a life that’s not.
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Cleaning up my data on my phone recently when I discovered these notes. I’m passing them on to my readers. Remember the word content is not mine. Priscilla Shirer (daughter of pastor Tony Evans) was in person a few years ago at FBC Jackson and this is notes from that message. Take what’s useful.
Priscilla Shirer
Prayer doesn’t manipulate God, it gives you access to what He already has planned for you.
The enemy wants to devalue.
Psalm 133- God commands a blessing.
Unity- He commands that there be a blessing.
Philippians 1:6
We sit on our feelings like they are fact
You don’t execute- you just hold on to your knowledge.
We never need to pray about a command.
Only the Creator can define you and call you by your name.
You are not defined by anything other than who God says you are.
The applause of those around or lack of applause doesn’t define you.
Even your weaknesses can become a platform.
When I surrender all I am to God then I become a temple for the Holy Spirit.
When God encountered people He changed their name.
Align everything with your identity.
Over 8000 promises. To grab hold of them you gotta know who you are.
When you don’t know who you are you get attacked by the enemy.
Judges 6
And everyone was doing what they thought was right in their own eyes.
The Middianites had conquered them.
Vs 11&12- Gideon was met by the angel and the angel called him a valiant warrior.
The angel of the Lord came to meet with mere people. It is God. Gideon is threshing wheat in a wine press. He is hiding. The angel of the Lord went to him. vs 11- He was there but in vs 12 he became aware he was near.
Open our eyes to see Him.
We want the manifest presence of God. We see Him. We see His tracks.
He hilights the word!
Spiritual senses so that our spiritual radar is up.
If you’ve not been able to detect God, and you can’t trust His hand then trust his heart.
You know you are hearing from God, when you hear truth. He will not conform to us. We must turn into His likeness.
Truth doesn’t change just cause we don’t like it.
Ch 6&7
You’re entire family is waiting for you to figure out who you are.
The whole nation was waiting on one person.
Daniel- God didn’t take them out of the fire, He joined them in the fire.
Isaiah 65- I allowed myself to be found by people who didn’t want to be found.
Psalm 25 is hidden in my heart, but recently when I revisited it, the first nine words grabbed my attention like a diamond in a well-lit jewelry case. My eyes and heart were fastened to it, and I could not move further into the verse or chapter. Here are the first nine words to this beloved Psalm:
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul…
This is what saturated my mind as the Spirit of God had me slowed to a stop on these words. God is the only One trustworthy to care for my soul.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul…
The Spirit undoubtedly directed David’s heart, and David knew that God was his absolute help for the eternal core of his being, whether in peace or crisis.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul…
Why wouldn’t I, too, lift up my soul to the only Soul Lifter?
Is there anyone more trustworthy than the Lord?
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul…
To experience what David knew in the very first line of this Psalm, then certainly we have to go to the Lord to lift our soul to Him. We can not remain unaffected by this great God we know.
We can not hide in our super busy life avoiding Him.
We can not be puffed with pride in our significant space.
We can not run by Him in ministry mode.
We can not excuse our presence with Him because of a caretaking call.
We can not rest in complacency in our relaxation room.
No, we must choose to go to God.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
Are you overwhelmed that you can even approach God?
God is available to every follower of Jesus. He is our Father, and He is there for us anytime, any day, any season of our life. But we must choose to stop our life, and go get His life each and every day.
Why not every morning say to Him…
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
The soul actually demands as much attention as the body…the soul was made for God, and without God, it is restless and in secret torment.
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Covid19 is still here. It’s impacted our lives, and I don’t need to tell you how. It’s quite hard to believe all the changes. We are wondering will things go back to normal. Here are some questions to ponder.
Am I still the same?
Am I changed?
Am I closer to Jesus now?
Do I love His Word more?
Do I hear God speaking to me?
Is there sin in my life that I need to confess and take action to flee?
Of course, we can always choose to be alone with God. A pandemic doesn’t have to be the reason. Do you have gaps in your days because of Covid? These are opportunities. And Jesus is better than any lottery ticket. He is dependable.
When all around you changes, He is not and will not. He can’t. Hebrews has a verse full of stability and promise, which says, “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.” A world to our expectations is not part of the deal. Actually, in John 16: Jesus says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.In this world you will have trouble.But take heart! I have overcomethe world.”
The other morning as I was in my quiet time, I came across all of these gems. Maybe reading these will inspire you to fellowship with God through His Word. There are many more scriptures like these that give testimony to the benefits of reading God’s Word. Ponder these few.
Who knew memorizing it could help you not to sin.
2. This verse clearly explains the usefulness of reading and applying Scripture.3. Wow, let’s pray we love reading God’s Word more than food. 4. Jeremiah expresses a desire to read the Scripture and expresses the benefit. If you don’t have this desire, then pray for it. That is a prayer God will answer.5. Scripture comes straight from the Lord. Living by it is wise—every word.
Today is the day to invest your time in reading God’s wonderful word. I have several blogs on this website on writing scripture which guarantees to slow down the brain and bring peace. Here’s one. FREE PRINTABLES are at the top of this site for you to work and enjoy. Suppose you don’t have the desire to get more of God’s Word in your life, pray for it. If you live in sin, you can’t hear from God, even if you are a believer. Confess that sin, get out of the sin, and start again living a life that brings glory to Him.
The Bible was not given for our information, but for our transformation. D. L. Moody
When was the last time you thought about a beaver? Me neither, but these interesting rodents recently came to mind when I pondered being ready for whatever is coming. Curiosity led me to research these non-hibernators. Beavers have a method of gnawing on trees and branches near a stream. This begins the process of building a dam and a home for themselves called a lodge. These creatures choose a shallow body of water. Choosing this protects them later from a build-up of ice in the winter. The build-up would slow down their ability to go to and fro in their engineered paths for food. They strip away from the trees and bring along other limbs, twigs, stones, and other plants for this intentional endeavor. The result; survival. In addition to this fundamental need, the dams serve as protection from those who seek to devour them; predators.
Beavers offer some analogy for us as humans. At times in our lives, we may choose to let go of unnecessary things, just like animals shed their fur to stay cool. This is good. But more often than not, it is God who orchestrates processes to cause this. The letting go can be in many forms and can come quickly or over time. This process is to get us prepared. Some choose to cooperate with God in this process; others dig their heels in.
Who could have predicted an unseen, worldwide pandemic and all its ramifications? Covid 19 shut down gyms for a while. Was this a routine in your life? How did you adjust and prepare for the new season? Did you get creative and find other ways to stay fit? This is an everyday example, but twists and turns that require our adjustment come, and we must be prepared. We won’t always have time to get prepared. Consider the following scenarios: a tragedy of some kind, a natural disaster, the death of a close loved one, a financial collapse, incarceration, a move to an unlikely place, a call to ministry or missions, a terminal diagnosis, or being the caregiver for a vulnerable person. It could be God is calling you out of your comfort zone, and you need to prepare for your next assignment or the surprise of a godly man or woman entering your life as your future mate.
Back to the beaver: eventually, the dam or the lodge is built. Its functions and purposes are in place, and the beaver begins life in its new ecological home. Survival in a new season instinctually led the beaver to build a shelter. In contrast, we can often ignore or procrastinate when action is needed. We spend more time than required asking why. We complain. We need time to process, and we wish things would go back to the way they were. We have no interest in being challenged or surrendering to God. Beavers? They do what’s necessary for life and living and survival. They do these acts of survival year around. I know I can learn some things from these nocturnal, busy, and intentional creatures.
Our God is sovereign, and He is powerful, and nothing that comes into a Christ-followers’ life can be wasted or unplanned. There are no surprises to God. Since this is true, then why does it take us so long sometimes to get on board with His plan? The beaver knows what is required and gets about doing it. The result is efficient, prepared, and ready for whatever may come. We can do the same. God is not interested in us being ill-equipped or unprepared for life. We can adjust ourselves to God.
Our ability to adjust seems related to our ability to trust our Heavenly Father.
So just like the beaver, we can build our earthly life efficiently, with preparation, and live in the reality of what is instead of what we wish it would be. We can grow no matter how old we are, no matter the situation. We can be ready for what God has. It doesn’t mean we won’t have fear or anxiety, but I humbly submit when I incorporate specific disciplines and habits, my response improves when the challenge comes and when life is changing. I also know the enemy is prowling, and he preys on those who are idle and unprepared. Christ’s followers are in the Lord’s army, and we must have a soldier’s readiness. We don’t want to cooperate in any delay of God’s plan, do we?
Here are some practices and disciplines I’ve learned which help me. I’m still growing, and I need God’s mercy and help every day of my life.
Tips to be Prepared for Life:
–Memorize and meditate on scripture – The Bible is God’s Word and the roadmap for life. As followers of Jesus, He expects us to obey it. The more scripture you have inside of you, the better your foundation for action when the plan comes.
–Pray – Prayer is meeting with our Father. We are talking and listening, but mainly we are in His presence. If you want to feel close to God, intentionally set times aside to pray. When the plans begin to change, you will be at peace.
–Keep your mind clean – Just because adults can view it doesn’t mean you need to view it. Be discerning and be vigilant to guard your mind. Your mind is a camera, and every word and image is inside your brain. Jesus tells us to love Him with our minds. You will be better able to love Him with a clean mind.
–Exercise and care for your body– We tend to feel better about ourselves when we do this. Giving in to every indulgence is not useful for building yourself for service to Him. Discipline and self-control are all close to God’s heart. He writes about the body in His word. It’s essential, and you will be ready for any new plans coming when you care for your body.
–Love the Church – Beavers stay in groups and care for one another. God has given us the church body to love and serve. Attend your local church, serve your local church, love other believers. Live in unity with every believer.
– Be weak – God cares, and He can perfect those weak and faithless places in you. Weak people depend on God. Our faith hangs by a thread sometimes. He is your dearest friend and loving Shepherd. Humbly seek His help and ask Him to make your faith strong.
The next time you sense your life is about to change. Consider how you will respond. Ponder one of God’s most unique creatures, and have a winning response. Success in life is when you walk hand in hand with Jesus. Faithfulness to Him. The beaver is prepared. It ends up with shelter, an efficient way to get provisions, and a fun and safe place to play in the water away from predators. Jesus is our shelter, our safe place, and He desires us to live in the joy of His presence.
God is the God of ‘right now.’ He doesn’t want you sitting around regretting yesterday. Nor does He want you wringing your hands and worrying about the future. He wants you focusing on what He is saying to you and putting in front of you … right now. Priscilla Shirer
Thanks for taking the time to read this article. If you aren’t one of my faithful readers, it’s easy to become one. Just add your email below, and hit subscribe, and each time I publish, you will receive the article in your email first. Blessings.
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2. This verse clearly explains the usefulness of reading and applying Scripture.
3. Wow, let’s pray we love reading God’s Word more than food. 
4. Jeremiah expresses a desire to read the Scripture and expresses the benefit. If you don’t have this desire, then pray for it. That is a prayer God will answer.
5. Scripture comes straight from the Lord. Living by it is wise—every word.
Valerie Rumfelt 